As Hunter reported yesterday, John Boehner and his fellow nihilists in the House have been forced back to the drawing board on their latest debt ceiling proposal:
Boehner had promised a package that would cut $1.2 trillion in spending over the next decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday the package would cut less than $1 trillion.
Well, there you have it. The CBO called bullshit, so of course Republicans are happy to oblige, because they think the CBO's word is gospel.
Except when it isn't. Like, for example, when the CBO shoots down the Republicans' plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, saying it would add $230 billion to the deficit in the next decade. When that happens, well, as Boehner dismissively said:
CBO is entitled to their opinion
Hmm. So the CBO is entitled to have an opinion that can be rejected outright, except when it's a convenient excuse for going back to the drawing board. But come on, the real reason Republicans have to scrap Boehner's plan isn't really about the CBO. It's probably got a lot more to do with this:
The Republican leadership trio has privately reached out to conservative TV personalities like Sean Hannity and Brit Hume, and Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot, National Review’s Kate O’Beirne, Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard, David Brooks of The New York Times, George Will, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and groups such as The Heritage Foundation, among others, have all heard from Republican leadership. And even former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), the chairman of FreedomWorks and a tea party favorite, got a call from GOP leaders.
Maybe next time Boehner will just run his plan by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh first, since it's obviously their opinions that matter most. Sure would save the CBO a lot of time.